Summer Fields
About this artwork
This work was painted outdoors near Catterline, the small fishing village south of Aberdeen where Eardley spent much of her time from the 1950s. She has heightened the sense of realism in ‘Summer Fields’ by adding grass, picked as she worked, to its surface. The land and seascape around Catterline inspired many of Eardley’s most memorable works, some of which verge on abstraction. Her expressive use of paint and warm colours combined with deep shadows evokes the summer sun on a golden crop.
- title: Summer Fields
- accession number: GMA 2940
- artist: Joan EardleyEnglish (1921 - 1963)
- gallery: In Storage
- object type: Painting
- materials: Oil and grasses on hardboard
- date created: About 1961
- measurements: 106.00 x 105.00 cm (framed: 111.70 x 110.10 x 5.00 cm)
- credit line: Bequeathed by Mr R.R. Scott Hay and presented by Mrs M.E.B. Scott Hay 1984
- copyright: © Estate of Joan Eardley. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2016
- photographer: Antonia Reeve
Joan Eardley
Joan Eardley
Born in Sussex, Eardley moved to Glasgow at the outbreak of war. She studied at Glasgow School of Art and at Hospitalfield House under James Cowie. Cowie helped to shape her preference for everyday subjects. In 1949 Eardley rented a studio in the centre of Glasgow, and a few years later moved to Townhead, where the local street children were her preferred subjects. She bought a cottage in the small fishing village of Catterline, south of Aberdeen, in 1954. There, her favourite subjects were the village and sea, particularly in stormy weather. Eardley died of cancer in August 1963. Her ashes were scattered on the beach at Catterline.
